Stepping down from the bus, a girl in her late twenties clad in loose-fitting blouse and skirt reaching down to her ankles hurried down the pavement in a rushing manner. Looking anxiously at her wrist-watch once every two seconds, she mumbled a string of unintelligible protests against the racing time as she made her way along the deserted sidewalk.

The gate was securely locked, just as he demanded. Coming before it, his lips curved into smile of satisfaction at a job nicely carried out. Then, tilting his shades a little as he gazed up to behold the plain-looking, single-storey building, his thoughts sped to mentally calculate its gross and net worth. Less than a minute passed when he deemed that plans ought to be meticulously reviewed before any serious action could be taken. All just because, as though a clinging sixth-sense crept up to paused his fiesty impulse, he had a nasty feeling that things would take a while to be shifted in their right and proper place. He shook his head and rubbed his temple under the scorching summer's sun. Setting aside all lingering uncertainties, he simply took out a key to open up the dusty gate and paced inside.

From a distance, the gasping girl finally could be seen approaching. Trying to catch her weary breath, Angela did her last best and scampered in the least cool way of a girl her age and plunged towards the gate. A futile attempt, as it forced back on her light body with an even stronger intensity. She fell backwards and landed miserably on the burning concrete ground. Her pair of thin, pale hands ended up with bright, red scratches. She moaned tearlessly. Questioning why the gate wouldn't budge, she gradually realised that the immediate surroundings were emptied of people. Much confusion and curiosity burdened her blank mind. She struggled on her feet again to find out what has placed her world on a dizzy wave this weird morning...

"Essence Library will be tentatively closed for one week. Should internal matters remain unresolved, we might extend this closure until further notice," Angela read from a notice dangling from the gate. Her interpretation of the such information coming from no clear source clouded her mood with unwelcomed premonition. She gasped hard upon imagining those dreaded possibilities which could have caused her beloved workplace to reach this kind of pitiable state.

Holding up the chained notice to her eye level again, she harboured mixed emotions falling into opposite extreme categories. She entertained the wish that this could simply be a practical joke put up by the librarian in-charge but the other pessimistic side of her resisted such naivety. Scratching her head, she released the piece of heavy card from her tightened grip. Next, her key could not unlock the gate. Outraged by worse coming to worst, Angela plucked up courage and headed over to the rear area to bet on her luck.

After going a huge way around, she naturally wanted to curse her day. She was greeted by an exact replica of what she had just faced back at the front. She shook up the hefty chains hanging from the centre of the gate that were fastened with an oversized metal padlock. There was no use. Impatience surged within her at a fast rate. She lamented with a heavy heart in the midst of noone else in sight. Then, with no other option left, she instinctively cocked her head to try and catch a glimpse of any visible change of the building inside.

She sensed a tiny bit of hope, "Lights on?" Stepping back, she turned about in an attempt to piece together the sudden mysteries cropping up from every corner. Wondering why she has not received any warning of what's going to happen today, she quickly checked her cellphone for any missed call or text message.

Over inside, the guy who had previously entered the building was working hard on the computer and looking over stacks and stacks of documents left all over the place. Barely a second and a cellphone started ringing...

"Hello? Yes, speaking..." he answered in a firm tone with perceivable tinge of politeness.

After a brief pause to switch his attention over to what the caller was telling him, he responded all the more pleasantly, "Definitely, I'll have the files uploaded for you in just a second...Hang on there..."

Giving the mouse under his palm a few clicks, the computer started the process of moving the relevant documents onto an online portal.

Back outside, Angela punched the numbers on her cellphone to call the library's office.

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